{"product_id":"the-tennis-partner-a-doctors-story-of-friendship-and-loss-isbn-9780060174057","title":"The Tennis Partner: A Doctor's Story of Friendship and Loss","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn unforgettable, illuminating story of how men live and how they survive, from Abraham Verghese, the acclaimed \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestselling author of\u003cem\u003e Cutting for Stone\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Covenant of Water\u003c\/em\u003e, an Oprah's Book Club Pick.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Heartbreaking. . . . Indelible and haunting, [\u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e] is an elegy to friendship found, and an ode to a good friend lost.”\u003c\/strong\u003e—\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Abraham Verghese, a physician whose marriage is unraveling, relocates to El Paso, Texas, he hopes to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital. There he meets David Smith, a medical student recovering from drug addiction, and the two men begin a tennis ritual that allows them to shed their inhibitions and find security in the sport they love and with each other. This friendship between doctor and intern grows increasingly rich and complex, more intimate than two men usually allow. Just when it seems nothing can go wrong, the dark beast from David’s past emerges once again—and almost everything Verghese has come to trust and believe in is threatened as David spirals out of control.\u003c\/p\u003e | In \u003cem\u003eMy Own Country,\u003c\/em\u003e named one of the five best books of 1994 by \u003cem\u003eTime\u003c\/em\u003e magazine, Abraham Verghese ventured into the valley of the Smokey Mountains, where he bore witness to the arrival of AIDS in a town that had never expected the disease or its terrible consequences. The \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e called the book \"an account of the plague years in America, beautifully written, fascinating and tragic, by a doctor who was shaped and changed by his patients.\" As an African-born Indian, Dr. Verghese revealed something essential about our American soul, reminding us, said \u003cem\u003eWashington Post Book World\u003c\/em\u003e \"of what is honorable and charitable in the way humans behave toward each other.\" \u003cem\u003eMy Own Country\u003c\/em\u003e presents an unflinching portrait of men and women facing the prospect of premature death, yet sometimes learning for the first time in that bleak circumstance how it is to live. \u003cp\u003e In 1991, Verghese moved west, bringing his wife and two young sons to the boarder town of El Paso, Texas. There he crossed paths with David Smith, a medical student who came to America from Australia on a tennis scholarship and played briefly on the pro tour before deciding to become a doctor. Recognizing some spark of commonality--perhaps just that of two strangers on the very edge of America--Verghese cajoled him into playing tennis again. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e On the wards, Verghese is teacher and mentor as he guides David through difficult and sometime colorful clinic problems seen in a country hospital. He teaches him how to read the signs from the human body, to use his hands to percuss, and to use his mind to listen. On the tennis court, their roles are reversed: The clinician becomes the student--almost. David helps Verghese hone his strokes and sharpen his game. But Verghese, a compulsive collector since childhood of tennis lore  and trivia, a compiler of notebooks on tennis heroes, ephemeral styles, and trendy strategies, rekindles David's love of the game, a love burnt out by the brutal competitiveness of the professional circuit. Perhaps this is how friendship between men are born: art work and at play.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e When the two men test their newfound bond, their friendship becomes something quite remarkable. Verghese confesses that his marriage is failing--and David admits that he is a recovering intravenous cocaine addict, struggling mightily to hold on to his girlfriend, his career, his sobriety. Against the stubborn, unyielding backdrop of the desert, their relationship grows increasingly rich and complex, more intimate than two men usually allow. Whether they are cycling on Old Mesilla, seeing a critically ill patient, or commiserating about a failed romance, each anticipates the other's needs, is there to buttress a fall, or to celebrate the small victories: David's graduation, Verghese's son's birthdays. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Just when it seems that nothing can go wrong, that friendship will be able to conquer all, the dark beast from David's past emerges once again. As Verghese scrambles to rescue him, David proves that he is friend to everyone but himself. When David spirals out of control, almost everything Verghese has come to trust and believe in is threatened. It is a defining moment, the kind each of us must eventually face--it is from such adversity that our lives are carved. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e is a remarkable journey to the ends and the edges of friendship, to its heights of intimacy and clarity, and also to its hellish depths of deception and betrayal. It is, above all, an unforgettable, illuminating story of how men live, and how they survive. | \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[Verghese] displays perfect pitch in this emotionally charged tale. . . . Readers . . . will be enthralled by his sleuthing into the human heart.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Abraham Verghese has show us once again that he is an old fashioned physician of the soul. Most extraordinarily, he finds metaphors for the blessings of humanity in the arts of tennis as healing. He recounts the living abundance of friendship and the dissolution of a brilliant friend and doctor. Dr. Verghese writes in a miraculous style-courageous yet tender. \u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e supersedes any memoir I’ve ever read. It is wonderful examination of what it means to be alive.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKaye Gibbons, author of On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A tale of luminescent humanity. . . . It goes deeper than any book I have ever read to put its finger on the pulse of what friendship truly means. It is a book for everyone of us who has deeply loved and mourned the fragile, ever-changing nature of caring, with its inherent need to ultimately let go. A brave and honest book, \u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e, haunts and empowers with each volley.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDenise Chavez, author of Face of an Angel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is a knockout book. Beautifully written, it broke my heart and made me happy all at the same time. I loved Verghese’s \u003cem\u003eMy Own Country\u003c\/em\u003e and this even ups the ante—more intense, even closer to the edge.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNatalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Verghese is a fine writer, lyrical and controlled, and he captures the attachment between the two men--its motives, its allure--with both precision and charm. . . . Wise and compassionate.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Verghese writes with such searching lucidity and is so attentive and engaging a figure that he could hold us just by describing his drives around town. . . . At its core his is a brave and heart-baring story about how even a teacher of internal medicine could not see inside the person closest to him. . . . It will speak to anyone who has looked with his heart instead of his eyes.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“With writerly grace, Verghese introduces us to the disciplines he holds sacred: tennis, internal medicine, fatherhood, male friendship. Everywhere he is a diagnostician, a teacher, a lover of physical presence. But finally as he walks the back alleys of El Paso searching for his drug-abusing colleague, we understand who Verghese is at his core, a man of honor who goes down mean streets and remains himself good enough for any world. This is an extraordinary book.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeter D. Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Heartbreaking. . . . Indelible and haunting, [\u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e] is an elegy to friendship found, and an ode to a good friend lost.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Hit[s] even closer to home than the AIDS epidemic of which he wrote previously . . . this is a compulsively readable and painful book, a work of compassion and intelligence.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Poignant. . . . The metaphors that underlie tennis permeate the book and give \u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e. . . . a power that resonates well beyond its topical interest.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Remarkable. It’s a terrific read, even if you’re not a tennis fan.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStar Tribune (Minneapolis)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e is beautifully written, an outstanding example of nonfiction writing that conveys facts about a subject without being pedantic. . . . Verghese’s sincerity makes an indelible impression on his readers while his revelations enlighten us.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChattanooga Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Verghese is a wonderful storyteller. The language is irresistible, clear as springwater, sharp as the ring of fine crystal. I enjoyed every word.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eW. P. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Despite the poignancy of the subject matter . . . Verghese’s telling of it never gets heavy-handed. Instead, he uses his bedside voice: caring, but also slightly detached and startlingly frank.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Elegantly written.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Times (London)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Eloquent. . . . A beautifully wrought memoir. . . . This is a terribly sad story, gorgeously expressed.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Excellent. . . . penetrating. . . . [\u003cem\u003eThe Tennis Partner\u003c\/em\u003e] is no small literary achievement.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Gripping. . . . moving. . . . Verghese shows himself to be a thoughtful and honest navigator through life. His pain . . . is impossible not to share.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDetroit Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44889059590373,"sku":"NP9780060174057","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-tennis-partner-a-doctors-story-of-friendship-and-loss-isbn-9780060174057","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}